Tag Archives: creative thinking

22

Time To Rise

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Are You Ready To Rise?

For a long time, I believed that if you created a graph of the activity and thought a person experienced in their life, it would inevitably have a wide variety of points. There would be big moments where you shared your best, and of course, the predictable low moments where tragedy and disappointment visited a life. Between the highs and lows are the steady moments of life that make up most of our experiences. We can’t fear the low moments because they lead to the most significant personal growth. I can look at my life and plot the points of success, failure, satisfaction, fun, contentment, anger, hatred, and love. My experience provides a virtual rise and fall of personal accomplishment and fear. But where they fall on my chart is based on my own beliefs. The events of my life generally have neutral except for the value I assigned to them. I decided what was “good” and what was “bad” and reacted as such. Was I lost or just plain wrong? Looking at the events of falling in love, graduating from college, getting that job, and accomplishing that goal, along with everything else that I viewed as a positive, represented positive growth. While their corresponding low points represent every failure, loss of love, job change, unfulfilled dream, and damage suffered the opportunities I have had for growth. I thought you could never have a high without a low. Was I right, or can we all rise at this moment and become the best version of ourselves today?

I was Wrong

As I look at my life, I realize that I have been plotting things all wrong.     Each of my experiences is not meant to be judged as good or bad and then charted to riaing upsignify my advancement toward happiness. Each experience was given to me to help me learn a lesson that I needed to know. Either I will master the task and move forward to accept new teaching.   Or perhaps if the experience isn’t acquired, the lesson will continually be presented until I finally get a clue and learn what I need to know.

That realization is powerful, although I don’t like to have “bad” things happen to me because that experience is not great fun at the moment. The momentum and direction a challenging experience gives you can be the same push you need to become something you always dreamed you could be.

So charting your life through highs and lows is merely adding our perceptions of things into your experience. Nothing is inherently good or bad unless we believe them to be so. A more accurate chart would be a straight line that continually moves upward to a fuller development as a human being.

Finding your Gift

I believe that we are all born with a gift that is unique to us, and that gift is the the-meaning-of-life-is-to-find-your-gift-pablo-picassothing that makes us happy. Often throughout life, that gift is forgotten due to the conditioning that society, our peers, families, and the educational system provide us with incomplete information designed to make us forget who we are.

People are encouraged to fit in and excel in the acceptance of someone else’s ideas. Our educational system gives out Kudos for being a properly trained individual. It seems like avoidance of creative thinking is all that concerns most people. Individuals become docile, accepting sheep who devour all of the provided fodder, and falling in line will bring reward. Think outside the expectations, and you will have a significant problem.

To find the unique gift, you must overcome this conditioning and realize that you are a great human soul with unlimited potential. A fact that is not debatable, and what is up for discussion, is how you use that gift.

Rising

So as you move through life and experiences come your way, remember that each moment comes to help you overcome the narrow-minded conditioning of life and remind you what your natural talent is.

You are learning not to label these experiences as either good or bad and accept them as things happening right now. Some lessons are inherently more pleasant than others, but all experiences have value. It is often difficult to see the value of the forest when you are lost amongst the trees.

Remember that no matter what stage of your life you are in, the graph does not fluctuate wildly, up and down, depending on experiences. That would give you seasickness or whiplash. Your chart always moves in a continually upward direction, moving you closer to your true self and unique talent.   It may level off as you stop searching or get lost, but it will never go down, just as your chronological age will never go backward. Your identity will continually climb.

When you are ready to recognize your talent, you will see that you have been and continually are rising all the time.

“You decide how high you rise in life. Nobody can stop you but you.”

“Never let the fear of falling stop you from rising to your highest potential. Fear is just a thought.” 

“Falling is a part of life; we all fall. It’s getting up every time that makes you a legend.”

“In all situations, you dictate the meaning for you. You decide if it builds you or breaks you. No person can ask for more power than that.”

 

22

Your Magic Power!!!

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Inside each person who has ever drawn a breath, there resides a personal power with which people can move down the path of their choosing in the manner they choose. A person can use their ability to gain great things and find incredible success. All people are capable of this, but it would be too easy if all people realized how powerful they are. We are born with the potential to use this power in our best interest. Still, life presents us with situations that slowly drain this power until we are left beholding to other people, places, and things to feel the energy we are born with. Don’t just give up your passion for reasons which don’t add any benefit to your life or existence.

All Power is Choice

Our personal choices drive us in every moment of the day and all situations. You are the one who decides to go to work on time or not. To be kind to someone else or not. The option to treat other people with respect and dignity or be selfish is all made by you and leads to the display of your power in the world. The effect your ability has on the world, and the experience of your existence will be determined by the choices you make.

We give our power away too quickly and often by either making poor choices or allowing choices to be made for us. When you drift away from your conscious awareness, choices in your daily life are made through the subconscious programming of your experience. Your life is at the mercy of a process with no thought involved. Take a moment and look at any situation you are in and evaluate the choices that brought this into your life. There are always choices you have made. And, of course, you can make choices that counteract your preferences. You are still in control of your power, and it stems from the decisions you are making moment to moment. Make good ones.

Don’t Let Strangers Dictate Your Path.

We are looking at your choices, which often give our power away for some silly reasons. One is to fit into what society portrays as acceptable. We are fed a narrative of what is pleasing to the world, and we buy it and never think of why. Each time we do this, our power is drained away a little. To fit in, to be accepted, to find our lives an unquestioned success, we need their approval of them. But we don’t know any of the people behind the message, and they certainly don’t know or care about you.

Let your heart dictate your path toward what makes you happy, and follow that trail to whatever end it holds. I have given too much power to strangers who judge me for being different or making choices with a bit of risk involved. The times I have given credence to these voices of criticism, things have ended poorly. When I follow my intuition and make the choices that feel good to me, life flows positively. Our intentions are always our own, even when circumstances dictate otherwise.

Actions and Feelings

Whether you give away your power or claim it again, your actions follow through with personal choice. Each choice will lead to a story; each step will lead to a result of one kind or another. Look at the actions you take at this very moment. You will decide to look at your power and where you are giving it away. Then you will choose to continue on the path in front of you or move in a different direction.

Being in tune with your feelings about certain things will be a guide for you. Each thought we have, the choice we make, and the action we take will have a corresponding emotional guide inside of us. We are responsible for learning to read these feelings because they will tell us if we are moving positively or negatively. Too often, we let our thoughts be the only guide, and our mind is often confused or dealing with inaccurate information, but our hearts are rarely wrong. Listen.

Personal Power Is Yours

These things dictate each moment, and to live your life without fear is the best way to find, keep, and grow your power. This is difficult to do in a world seemingly inundating us all with fear from all sides of existence. But you are restoring your energy when you learn to make choices without regard to the worry that seems to accompany everything we do. To take action without regard for the result. That is to do something because you know it is right in your heart and not because of a product you seek.

Look at our lives as a conduit to experience certain things and turn these experiences into a guide to take you in the direction you are supposed to be moving in. Disregarding the worry about the future or regrets about the past dictates the substance of our lives.

Maintaining Power

Don’t let life chip away at your power over time. People bleed their energy away over attachments built to specific outcomes in life we think are suitable for us and can’t see the better option sitting next to that poor choice. We allow the accumulation of things to become a false standard of our value when things are nothing. It is the experiences in life that build the substance of our lives. Seek knowledge and value the ones you are allowed to have in each moment of each day you live.

Fears and problems are developing in each person’s life; we continually give our power to these things. Most have arisen from simple distress or pain from a childhood memory or experience that has grown out of proportion. Even significantly traumatic experiences from childhood can rule our lives with power if we let them. Reclaiming our energy will come from forgiving others and, most importantly, forgiving ourselves for whatever has happened in our memories’ deep, dark recesses. Taking our power back starts with this.

Give it a Try

Look at your power today and see that it is responsible for creating your current life. If you have dreams, you feel the urge to follow and pursue them. In each choice you make today, look at the result and get used to seeing how powerful you are in all of your conscious decisions. Too often give away our strength because we are afraid of asking for what we want. Ask for what will make you happy and bring you experiences in life you want to have.

Start right now. Today. With the very next choice you make. Will this add to my power, or am I giving it away to something or someone out of my control? See where this path will lead you.

“The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power.”

“Your soul has a plan, but it may not be
the one you could ever have dreamed of
without reaching for expanded consciousness.
Keep your eyes on the unlimited skies of Spirit
so you won’t miss something amazing.”

“Love is like emergency oxygen masks in an airplane:
just as you must put on your mask before assisting others,
you must love yourself first in order to love others next.”

“Your higher self guides your true voice,
who knows your life plan and can whisper advice
that will lead you down the path you were meant to take.”

 

 

 

 

22

Be A Proactive Person

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Proactive Choices Change Everything

Being a human being is a complicated and sometimes painful journey. A person is continuously challenged with new situations, asked to take in further information, and learns to deal with new people in their lives all the time. Still, we have one great choice to make in all of this, which allows us to be in control of ourselves, even when events occur which are out of our control. This power is the choice to be proactive. It means more than just taking the initiative in any situation; instead, you accept responsibility for wherever you are in life and whatever you are experiencing.

What is the Responsibility?

When you look at the word responsibility and break it up, you will see what it means: Response- Ability or your ability to respond. Each of us is continually responding to the situations we experience, and it is the manner we respond that dictates who we are. We are all responsible for our choices in this matter. If you are at the mercy of your emotions and react in anger, you own the results of that situation. If you practice avoidance and hide in drugs or alcohol consumption, you own the results of that action. This ownership comes whether you want it or not.

If you choose to be proactive, you accept responsibility for all aspects of your life and the circumstances you are experiencing. As recent events in the world have shown, some things occur outside of our control. Still, our reaction to it, the way we act toward others and choose to feel about ourselves, is that we are self-aware enough to recognize the tools we have at our disposal to be great. It is a conscious choice to live based on your values rather than on what events your life faces. As in all things, there is another choice,  to be reactive.

Being Reactive

When you choose to empower things around you, people, events, occurrences, conditions, or pandemics to affect and control you. If times are comfortable, a reactive person will be in a good mood. If they face difficulty or a challenge, that is all it takes to feel bad and act worse. I read a great thought that reactive people will be significantly affected by the weather, whereas proactive people carry their weather with them. It doesn’t make a difference if it is raining or the sun is shining, they are value-driven, and those values, kindness, charity, understanding, and caring are not put off by a little cloudy weather.

All people are affected by external stimuli, weather, forced social distancing, or pandemics, but the choice of response is different for each. If one thing is taken away, you can focus on that or start to find ways to enjoy your life anyway. Any external event can’t hurt our essential character unless we allow it. Economic hardships are challenging to navigate in life because they are fraught with worry. Being reactive is to feel sorry for yourself and blame everyone else. The bold choice is to do whatever you can do to survive and look for better ways to protect yourself in the future.

Take Initiative

This simple act of taking the initiative is a driving force in determining who is ultimately successful and who is not. People often do not recognize their responsibility to make things happen in their lives. Setting intentions to be something or do something is a great start, but nothing will happen without action.   We all have a reservoir of resourcefulness and initiative to pull from in our lives. As each of us examines our lives, we recognize situations where we have been resourceful to solve problems and make things happen, which were excellent.

Also, there have been moments in each person’s life where they had to take the initiative to get a better job, have a great relationship, take advantage of an opportunity, or any other positive thing a person has created. If you don’t think any of those things have ever happened to you, you are not looking closely enough. All human beings are capable of taking the initiative.

Final Thought

Be proactive today in how you react. If the national news media is bringing you down, take the initiative to shut it off and do something productive. Nothing can stop you from doing that but you. If you have free time to spend with your children, then finish it willingly and realize these circumstances will probably not happen again in the width of their childhood. How they look back on this situation in 10-20 years will be determined by the choices they make and the attitude they display.

It is a fact that difficult times will come to us all, and our response to that situation will define who we are to the world. You can’t speak of kindness and caring about your fellow man on one hand and then attempt to hoard a ten-year supply of toilet paper on the other. As I said, these decisions will define you.

“Do what today others won’t, so tomorrow, you can do what others can’t.” Brian Rogers Loop

 

“The only way to end a culture of violence is to proactively create a peace culture.”–Marianne Williamson

“Think proactively and dynamically. Be realistic, but set your sights high.” Lorii Myers

“We must take proactive steps to promote democracy and human rights abroad.”–Sam Brownback

 

“Learn from yesterday, live for today. Hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.”–Albert Einstein

 

22

Just My Imagination

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One of our most powerful tools as people is our imagination. Each person can conjure up images of the most marvelous and creative things in the mind.  The ability to think in original thoughts separates the innovators from the pretenders in business and life.  Imagination is creative thinking running wild and looking at the world in a new or different way.  It is so unique that we all have this ability. It is one of the gifts of having a human experience.  We are only limited by the amount of effort we put into our imagination practice.  Our minds create the experiences we have in life.  Why is it that so many people do not use this gift?  Most people seek concrete avenues of thought which solve minor problems and lead to no significant contribution in life.  They are safe but will never lead to innovation in any area of life.  Let’s think about this for a bit.

The Concrete Path

This is a road of thought taught to us from our earliest moments. As we are taught the right way to behave at the dinner table and in public as children, which are all great skills, we are also inundated with many other things. The shame of not being exactly like everyone else, fearing being different, or not fitting in is also drilled into our minds. We are all seeking this level of normality in our behavior and, more significantly, in our thoughts.

Instead of being challenged to look at things creatively, we are stunted in our development and pushed into a fixed mindset of limitations.  This is true of the ideas of what is expected from children to what is expected from adults.  Follow the concrete path, and “you will be happy.”  Go to school, get educated, have a career, a family, work for 30 years, retire and wait for this ride to end.  Following this concrete destination is supposed to make us all happy with life, but it doesn’t work like that.  We have our paths to follow and things to create that don’t fall on that path.

Our Purpose

It is our purpose that drives us once we start looking for it.  It isn’t going to be found on the concrete path of society, but off of it, down some dirt path that others tell you not to follow.  Yet you still follow it to find the thing you have felt has been missing in your life.  That purpose is yours to discover, ignore, avoid, or build a life upon as you see fit, but it is always their calling to you. Some are fortunate, and they find their calling early on in life and have a chance to transform it and themselves over time.  Others are not so lucky; circumstances and experience will allow you to discover or rediscover precisely what you should be doing in this life.

Your purpose doesn’t have to be a giant mountain to climb or an overwhelming responsibility, and it can be a more simple life or better decisions about the ones you care about.  Mark Twain famously said, “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”  This is the process of finding out why.  Without looking for your purpose, you will never find it, and that is the secret to enjoying life, taking your path without fear, and seeing where it takes you. The most incredible tool you have is your imagination to help you.

Use Your Imagination

Imagination will allow you to see how things might be if you can follow your purpose. To create a world that only exists in your mind and actively look for steps that will take you in that direction. Nothing in this world was ever created by man that wasn’t first, just a thought in someone’s imagination. Each of us has the same ability to take an idea through the process of creation and into reality.  It is a matter of focus and commitment.

People can practice and fine-tune this talent, like someone training with weights works their body into shape. You can exercise the ability to be creative and make something where once there was nothing. I enjoy doing just that with an empty page and creating thoughts that weren’t there before. Like they are buildings holding the secrets to many lives.  Whatever you want to make, be conscious of the process, have a thought, imagine what it will be like completed, then take steps to move your idea toward reality.

We are all pushed down the concrete path of life to be exactly like everyone else, but none of us are the same, and all seek individual expression. Creativity is the vehicle for expression that lives in us and needs to be nurtured.  Practice the creative process, work with your imagination today, and see what path it leads you down.

“Every human has four endowments – self-awareness, conscience, independent will, and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom… The power to choose, to respond, to change.” -Stephen Covey

“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”- Mark Twain.

“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.”- Robert Fulghum

 

21

You Better Think

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Think-direct one’s mind toward someone or something; use one’s mind actively to form connected ideas.

We receive the most important tool we could ask for when we are born — the ability to think. Yet, so often, we waste the power of our thought on things that are petty, unproductive, selfish, and short-sighted.  The mind can do so much good when focused on the positive and so much mayhem if thinking in the negative. Nothing has ever arrived in the world that did not exist in someone’s mind first. It is through the power of their thought that turned whatever is into reality.  Look around you and see furniture, lights, fire extinguishers, chairs, or whatever else you see around you. They were nothing until someone thought of them in their mind and took steps to bring them into reality.  So today, I challenge you to focus on how you think.  A person becomes what they think about in life.  And, of course, how you think, what you say, and the actions you take will reveal what you are and what you will become.

Are You Positive or Negative?

Your thoughts control the energy you produce, plain and straightforward.  All people are both transmitters and receivers of energy. Either you will be positive or negative based on the tenor of the thoughts you entertain regularly. Favorable views of love, kindness, acceptance, understanding, and forgiveness will lead to a production of positive energy. These are the people who pick you up, make you feel good, and cause you to believe all things are better than you thought they could be.

On the negative side, thoughts focus on fear, judgment, non-acceptance, hate, meanness, or unforgiving. These negative thoughts come through in your words about others and will transcend into your actions. This energy transmits to all in your life, spouses, children, friends, and coworkers.  If your life seems like a negative experience where everyone is selfish and petty, look at your thoughts.  The negativity you create attracts other negativity.  Are you optimistic or pessimistic in your life? Your feelings tell everything. But on the positive side, you can change this experience whenever you choose to, by focusing on different thinking. Eliminate the negative and create some positive in your life.

Imagination Creates Everything

When you think, it is not all about facts. A mind is a creative tool if you allow it to be and use it as such. When we are young, our imaginations run the show. We create fantasies about what we will become, where we will go, what we will do, and everything about life.  As we grow, society tells us to stop daydreaming and get to work.  And we do. We are leaving behind the most powerful and joyful ways to think and forget to use our imaginations.

What could happen if we had all the people in the world using their imaginations to solve problems and create beautiful things?  Too many people are not controlling or noticing their thoughts at all. They just let them run in whatever direction they go like a wild animals. Wild animals are hard to corral and harness. Practicing meditation can allow us to focus our thinking and find the thoughts that resonate with us. Use your creative ideas to make things that will enable you to happiness and make the world a better place. Think with imagination. You are the only one who can think your thoughts and bring your perspective to the world.

Control what you Think

If you don’t control what you think others will.  That is a fact of life that becomes more apparent with each passing day. Look at the messages we are receiving from the media and telling you what to be afraid of, who you can’t trust, or what activities are acceptable.  Advertisers are no less invasive, selling your thoughts about what products will help you be healthy, famous, and in the end, happy.  Listen to those thoughts, and the only ones who will be satisfied are the people collecting your money.  Happiness comes from within you, not from outside of you.

When it comes to fear, that is a negative thought that allows others to control you.  If you’re always afraid, you will act a certain way.  Usually just like somebody else wants you to.  The danger is something that can hurt you, and you should be careful of it. Fear is just a thought that controls you. It makes you fall in line with the system. Support government actions of violence in the name of security. Justify poor treatment of people who are not “one of us.”  Look at your thoughts and honestly see which are your own and which belong to someone else.   Control Your thoughts, or someone else will.

Thinking Skills

Thinking it is a skill that can bring all things into your life, both positive and negative. The only person who is responsible for your thoughts is you. If you don’t like the energy of your life, change it with a conscious awareness of what you are thinking throughout your day.

The thoughts you decide to entertain will either bring great things in your life or create negatives.   You are a potent being, and your views are your weapons. They lead to everything about you. From what you will accept for treatment from other people to how much money you can make to the quality of your relationships.  Your thoughts determine all of these things. Your creativity in all things is nothing more than a different and unique way to capture and organize your thoughts.

Take some time to look at the thoughts you are entertaining today. See the emotions that are naturally attached to them. Observe the words you use to express these thoughts to the world.  Finally, the actions that you take will turn your dreams into reality.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein. 

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”  ~William Shakespeare

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right.”   ~Henry Ford

 

Life Lessons

No News. Is Good News!

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stop watching the news
Give it a shot, stop watching. What do you have to lose but fear?

I am tremendously grateful for a conscious decision I made  about four years ago to stop watching the national news and leaving the fear mongering and celebrity worship behind.

I don’t seem to be missing out on anything positive and am just as informed as I always have been, but the real benefit is the fact that I have not been subject to the consistent stream of negativity that comes from any of the national news outlets.  I think  this enables me to be happier on a daily basis.

Haven’t Missed a Thing

My initial reluctance to giving up my news addiction was that I would no longer be properly informed about current events.  Yet, using this week as an example, I am media_monkeysadequately informed about all of Donald Trump’s foolishness and how he and Hillary Clinton fared in their latest debate.   What I don’t have to deal with is the feeling the national media tries to build in you, that the world is going to end because of it. So be very, very afraid.

I have a hint for all of you, we will all still be here tomorrow and then the story will be something else and life will continue on.  It is not that I am apathetic to the plight of our nation and the fact that our politicians are really just highly paid corporate sell outs. It is a fact that as a conscious human being living on the planet, I recognize manipulation and brainwashing when I see it.

I don’t need the national media to fan those flames of fear.  Most often the fears they use are designed to get you to watch more and for the media to make more money from advertising.  With today’s lightning-quick social media, you learn of news without moving an inch, simply by looking at your phone you see today’s events and happenings as they are unfolding. There is no need for a media narrative to tell you how to think.

I am grateful that I can leave it there.  I am sad for those who experience loss, I am sympathetic to those who suffer, but I do not let it consume my life because then I would never be able to contribute to a cure.

Being an Individual Is Hard Today

By not watching the national media and blindly absorbing the version of that story they feed me, I have found that I am much more clearly able to form my own opinion about events.

By looking at how I actually feel about something, I can more readily create ideas that are uniquely mine.  If we blindly follow the thoughts and presentations of others, we are doomed to have no unique and creative thought toward problem-solving.  Being an individual today is difficult because if you don’t think exactly like someone else, then you are going to be ridiculed. This is the first step in forced conformity, to discourage individual thought and force people to accept the “right” opinion about things. Isn’t our education system based on this practice? Learn how I tell you and don’t think for yourself.

Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself

Don't fear the media
The media works hard to keep you afraid. The choice is yours

The national media makes people feel like there is something wrong with them if they don’t feel like they say you should.  Shouldn’t you be afraid of terrorism? Shouldn’t we dislike those who are different from us?  Shouldn’t we fear everyone we don’t know?  The questions go on and on, but the reason is simple.  If you are afraid you are easily controlled and if you are free thinking and problem-solving, there is no telling what you might do. You might even find a better alternative than listening to the Today Show.

Most people in the world are good, honest people who are kind to others, polite and helpful.  People do amazing things each and every day to help other people live a better life.  These actions aren’t often covered in the media because even though they are nice, they don’t grab attention.  Fear grabs attention and it doesn’t let go.  But once you leave that fear behind, you can enjoy life a little bit more.

You May Be the Answer

So today I am grateful for the conscious decision I made about five years ago to stop watching the news and to form my own opinions about the world. I encourage you to find your own path as well.  Who knows the answer to many social problems facing the world today could be solved by you.  It is up to you to decide to be your own person and think for yourself.

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